Violence, theft down in St. Pete

Violent crime is down, murders are about the same and the numbers on auto theft, a crime that historically has bedeviled police here, are looking spectacular.

There was, however, one interesting blip in a succession of descending lines that were part of police Chief Chuck Harmon's presentation to the city council Thursday.

Prostitution arrests are way up.

The number of prostitution arrests made during the first seven months of this year was up almost a third over the same time period last year.

At the same time, however, people are complaining less about prostitution. Prostitution-related calls for service went down almost 30 percent.

Does that mean people have become more accepting of the oldest profession in history?

Not so, say police officials.

"Our prostitution initiatives have increased and consequently if they are being effective, we would anticipate the calls from citizens would be less," said Mike Puetz, St. Petersburg police spokesman.

The most recent operation was a sting operation Wednesday in which a female police officer was used as a decoy. Ten people were arrested.

Overall crime has decreased by more than 15 percent in St. Petersburg, according to the police department.

Violent crimes - which include robbery, rapes, and murders - are down 17 percent, while property crimes - which include burglary and auto theft - are down nearly 16 percent, according to statistics.

Robberies are down nearly 25 percent, burglaries are down 21 percent, and auto thefts are down 34 percent, the statistics show.

The numbers compare crimes committed from January through July.

The city has also witnessed a precipitous drop in convenience store robberies.

After several convenience store owners or workers were shot during robberies, ordinances were passed in March 2009 requiring convenience stores to increase security. Since those ordinances were made into law, there has been a 65 percent decrease in convenience store robberies.